Just a few days before Passover the prestigious french wine-specialized magazine "La Revue du Vin de France" (RVF) published several articles and reviews on some Israeli and french kosher wines. Very interesting and insightful information to say the least as to how do some of the best Israeli wines compare and are different from their french peers as well as a fascinating blind tasting and review side by side of both the kosher and regular versions of the Château Lafon-Rochet St-Estèphe 2010.

Videos and articles are in french, you may try and use Google Translate or some similar tool which still won't give you a perfect translation yet should provide you a with a comprehensive and understandable view of the general context. I've translated myself a summary of the wines reviewed.

The following write up is titled "how much really are worth the kosher wines" and focuses exclusively on french kosher wine and provides additional info to what I already knew until now about the very complicated processes involved with the making of the kosher runs at wineries the likes of Pontet-Canet, Smith Haut Lafitte etc.

To summarize, the reviewers favored the non-kosher run over the kosher one (no kidding...) as it shows more concentrated and better crafted with a much more felt impact from the oak casks but also better structure and length. The kosher run is more approachable and simple in its aromas, more fruit forward and less concentrated. Compared with the "classic" run, the kosher wine doesn't seem to have been barrel-aged . These two wines will please different types of palates. The kosher version is a young, fruity and sincere wine, almost like a primeur (personal note: sounds to me as if they almost wanted to say "Beaujolais Nouveau"...). The classic run however is richer, more extracted and more tannic.

Follows 2 reviews of Israeli wines, a red and a white.

This one is for the Domaine du Castel, Blanc, Chardonnay "C" 2010 which they loved:

So here it goes: "This is quite a surprising white wine from the upper Judean Hills, produced near-by Jerusalem. We get here the typical warmth of Chardonnay yet this wine is very different and DOES NOT resemble those we may find in France. Domaine du Castel offers a very round wine from relatively old vines planted at 700 meters above sea level. This white wine from Castel provides in the mouth a sensation of freshness. The 2010 vintage is already very developed and its finish is characterized by somewhat milky notes. It is important to decant this wine. Aerating it will allow it to gain in both intensity and aromas. Simple and authentic dishes will pair well with this Chardonnay such as grilled fish. Domaine du Castel is well-reputed for producing red wines inspired by those of Bordeaux as much as for its white wines inspired by those from Burgundy.

Review: This kosher wine is a blend of Syrah and Mourvèdre, something original which you may not find in France. The Syrah here is very velvety, very charming and flattering with a very slight hint of residual sugar that might render the wine as heavier to the palate but it is a typically Israeli characteristic and we do not have such a blend in France yet this is quite a nice wine that is already very enjoyable now and is consensual but won't last for too many years thus we suggest to drink it now.

The last article discusses of the growing number of wine-lovers in France and across the globe looking for quality kosher wines (really? ):

Interesting stuff. I tried to get through the Google Translate version but obviously that doesn't help with the video part. They showed a clip of the 2004 Ch. de la Tour Burgundy, I wonder if they tasted that as well.